(B) Episode Two: One Ring To Rule Nothing At All

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As the Berserker on the right fell, Bachydios saw opportunity for hilarious carnage. He moved up to the space where the Berserker had previously stood, and looked at the remaining Berserker with a wide grin. Words were unnecessary. He thrust his palm out and sent a surge of thunder forth against the poor sod.

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"Shouldn't we rest up or such before we go on?" Dayereth asked, glancing at their Paladin who still hadn't recovered from the last blow. "Not that it really matters to me whether man mountain keels over... except it does, since I'm not in the mood to be battered around. Once was way more than enough for me. And speaking of, I should patch myself up too.

"But, 'lia! Did you see me? I killed two of the bastards!"

Use a Healing Surge (if allowed? or is healing automatic during rests?)

Vote to rest before proceeding

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Aramachus breathed a sigh of relief as the battle concluded. That greataxe hit had hurt, and everyone had taken some blows already so he would've had a tough time if another turn had happened, trying to figure out how to block the enemy and who to heal with his limited actions.

"If you would spend more time focusing on the battle at hand, and less time boasting prematurely, you may avoid being hit." Aramachus chided Dayereth. "Keep a tally if that matters to you, but I ask that you stop calling out to Korellia every time you make a kill, as it serves only to distract her and the rest of us. This isn't a game anymore. I judge you not if you do not value your life, but do not put others' at risk."

Aramachus had noted that some people in DMO seemed to still treat it as a game. He was not one such person. This was real life now, to him. He'd intended to have fun playing a defender role in the game, but now found himself saddled with both the head-on danger of death and the responsibility to protect everyone else from actually dying IRL. The pressure tended to make him irritable when others seemed to be carefree in such dire circumstances.

He didn't know what to think of the battle-crazed Wizard though, so he left that alone.

[spend a healing Surge]

(yes if we want to heal between battles, we must spend surges or use abilities)

"I agree that we should proceed, once everyone has healed up."

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The group gets sent into the keep, into a lavishly decorated throne room. In it they see three men, clad in chainmail. Two of them standing guard and one of them sitting on the throne with an extremely bored expression. The adventurers enter, but are told to remain still at the entrance. "So," the man identified as Johnny Lee spoke, "who the hell are you?"

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"Oh, don't be such a boring old fart, 'machus," Dayereth sighed, shaking off the worst of the effects from the battle. "We won, and without any serious harm to our well-being, right? It's much more interesting to converse with each other than to silently mutilate all the perverts, as much as they deserve it. Between 'lia and me, we finished off more than half of those guys, so I'd say providing moral support doesn't hurt, yeah?"

He skipped ahead of the group rather cautiously, keeping well within reach of the Paladin's imposing bulk so he could dart behind it if anything jumped out at them. But nobody else accosted the motley group of adventurers, and they were able to safely proceed into some tawdry imitation of a throne room. The faux prince of thieves looked extremely bored as he inquired as to their identities, and Dayereth smirked.

"Like I told your disgusting guards outside, we're just a group of traveling performers. But if you're gonna be rude to 'lia like they were, we'd be perfectly happy to demonstrate our skills to you just like we did to them."

Bluff Check?

Roll(1d20)+10:13,+10Total:23

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"I have little interest in petty tricks, Tiefling," Johnny's expression remained bored, "It doesn't matter how good a liar you are, just like it is impossible for you to convince me that the sky is actually purple I will not believe that all the noise and explosions I heard weren't the sounds of combat. For them to die that quickly to a group of nobodies like you only tells me that I should put more effort into recruiting scum."

[Combat starts, Adventurers go first.]

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It looked to Korrelia strangely as if both Dayereth and Aramachus were quarrelling over her. This sounded incredibly petty considering the dire situation they were in, where they were threading the line between life and death and had sustained severe injuries. She herself had lost a chunk of her confidence, and was feeling highly uncertain about whether she was being any help at all in this battle. She wisely decided to ignore them right now.

[can anyone tell me where I can find the positioning for this battle? Can't position people if I don't know. T.T]

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"The enemies all seem really faraway," Korrelia muttered, shielding her eyes. It was a really dark sort of throne room, with Johnny Lee sitting right at the other end. His voice was only audible because of the booming echo effect from the walls.

"You should heal first, Korrelia," said Aramachus, and she quickly nodded.

[spend healing surge]

The enemies were all too far away to reach or target at one go, so she obeyed Aramachus' suggestion and stayed behind him, occasionally peering out to observe the action.

[move 4 steps forward]

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Dayereth was more than eager to start fighting the idiot who hired such lewd, disrespectful guards. Unfortunately, said idiot was still too far away for him to attack, so he contented himself with going after one of the cronies, brandishing his wand. Once more, the spell raced from its tip, flying straight for the guard trying to hide behind the wall.

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Bachydios was starting to develop an odd habit of looking at Col shoot. She went right for Johnny Lee with her marvelous range. A rush of energy, visible as a flashy green light that could cause epileptic seizures if one stared for too long, passed through her body and then she sent the two arrows flying.

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Johnny Lee took several steps forward and ordered his two Guards to strike at the Warlock who had so foolishly decided to march ahead. Even though his concealment made it harder for them to hit, both of their halberds managed to find their target.

[Roll(1d20)+8: 8,+8Total:16

Roll(1d20)+8: 17,+8Total:25

Roll(1d10)+3: 2,+3Total:5

Roll(1d10)+3: 1,+3Total:4]

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Bachydios pulled up the Battlefield Map on his UI and squinted at it for several seconds.

"Uh, if everyone other than Aramachus can stay behind Col's current position while trying to slay the Human Guards, Johhny Lee won't be able to hit us with his Shurikens (range 6/12) without incurring an Attack penalty. I've plotted out the area where I'll set-up Grasping Shadow soon (after everyone's turn) to hinder his advance. Aramachus should be the only one to advance since he can better take hits from Johnny than the rest of us."

"In fact, unless it hinders him killing the Bloodied Guard, Aramachus should advance up to X. That way, we maximize the space buffer between our ranged characters and Johnny."

"Someone with high damage, like Dayereth, should try to Bloody the other Guard to aid my spell's accuracy a bit. The rest could try to kill the Bloodied Guard. Col should continue sniping at Johnny after moving back. We can't risk the boss targeting anyone other than Aramachus."

"Oh, and time to go BERSERKZ. RWAAARRRRGH!"

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The guards moved much faster than Dayereth had expected. Or maybe the one he'd been aiming at had been so enraged that he'd just decided to rush the poor Warlock, smacking him with their weapons. Tons of fun. Tons of blood, too; Dayereth winced at the sight of the crimson liquid staining his clothes. Ah well, it gave him an excuse to buy more when they returned to town as victorious heroes; he'd need new clothes to make the man, after all.

"Dirty cheaters!" he shouted, aiming his next attack at the other guard. As soon as it left his wand, he skedaddled backwards, hopefully out of their range. At the very least, they'd have to face down the man mountain before they got to him.

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After Dayereth ran away from the two Guards standing next to him he triggered an Opportunity Attack from both. The first of these missed, but the second connected to deal massive damage to the Warlock, effectively bloodying him.

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With all of his enemies stacked close together Johnny saw an opportunity to deal significant damage and decided to simply eat the attack of the Paladin as he ran past him and used his action point to move even closer to the extremely loud Warlock. Once in position he was in range to perform his Fan of Knives on each of his enemies. â€œWho are you calling a maggot, Tiefling piece of shit!â€ Several knives flew across the room, managing to hit Korrelia, Col and Bachydios.

The first Guard had been hit by Bachydiosâ€™ Grasping Shadows and was unable to move very far, but the Guard who had managed to resist the attack quickly approached Dayereth to strike with his halberd, but missed. To make matters worse he also took damage from Aramachus' Divine Sanction, unluckily being the only person in range of his Call of Challenge earlier.

[Took 6 damage from Aramachus' Opportunity Attack.

Fan of Knives attack rolls versus Reflex against Korrelia, Dayereth, Col and Bachydios were 17, 10, 21 and 15. Damage was 16.Guard rolled a 13 for attack against Dayereth.Guard took 7 damage from Divine Sanction.]

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The situation was dire. Korrelia could tell from the grim faces of her companions. She balled her fists. Everyone had to pull their weight now. It was time to work together, no matter how sleepy and exhausted they were.

She drew out her Harp and twanged a string with all her might, the force of her will causing the string to snap with a loud noise. She pulled out her Dagger at the same time.

[use Stirring Shout on Johnny Lee: 1d20+6

Roll result: 13

If hit: 2d6+5

Damage: 12]

"Col! We can't give up now!" she said, unable to fight the tears streaming from her eyes. Why was she so useless, crying now? At this juncture, she must be strong, but why was she the one desperate, trembling and evidently scared? She tried to lift her flute, but her hands were shaking.

[Majestic Word on Col]

[spend 1 Action Point]

[second Wind on herself]

Now that she had repaired both their wounds as best she could, she proceeded to move 5 steps southwards to avoid the range of the enemies. All through her mind the phrase was running, "they're too strong."